Heavy duty stapling tools are widely used in the building or construction industry, with such tools being both of the power driven type, typically pneumatic driven tools, and manual type, commonly referred to as hammer-type staplers since the tool is manually swung and impacted against a surface such as a roof or wall substrate so as to effect ejection of a staple.
To permit use of staples for securing sheathing and sheeting to walls and roofs, often as a substitute for a cap nail, tools have been developed which position a plastic cap in the discharge path of a staple so that, upon operation, the staple penetrates the cap prior to penetrating the substrate so that the cap provides significantly increased gripping strength relative to the sheathing or sheet material being fastened over the substrate. Examples of power-operated staplers which also employ plastic caps are illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,184,752, 6,302,310 and 6,478,209. In the tools of these patents, the basic stapling tool is pneumatically operated and mounts thereon a storage magazine for a plurality of plastic caps, with a leading cap being supplied into the staple discharge path for penetration by the staple during tool activation. While tools of this type perform a desirable and efficient stapling operation, nevertheless such tools are disadvantageous with respect to their cost and their need for connection to a power source, such as a source of pressurized air for operating the tool. These tools are also generally fairly large and heavy, and the associated air hose which connects to the tool makes tools of this type difficult to use when the sheathing or sheet material is being fastened to a relatively upright surface.
In addition, with many of the known tools, such as those illustrated in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,184,752 and 6,303,310 patents mentioned above, the tool includes a rather large upright canister for containing therein a vertical stack of caps, all of which are independent of one another, whereby loading of the tool with caps may be difficult, particularly when one considers the environment within which the tools are utilized.
Because of factors such as cost and complexity as associated with power tools as mentioned above, manually operated tools, specifically hammer-type staplers, are utilized, particularly by workmen who utilize such tool for smaller jobs or on a less frequent basis. Further, hammer-type staplers are more convenient to utilize when stapling sheathing or sheet material to a vertical or generally upright surface. In recognition of situations where hammer-type staplers are desired, it has been proposed to provide such hammer-type stapler with caps so as to increase the flexibility and improve the quality of the stapling operation being carried out. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 6,966,389 proposes a hammer-type cap stapler wherein a cap supply cylinder is attached to the tool for maintaining therein a vertical stack of independent caps, and the caps are discharged from the bottom of the cap cylinder so that a cap is automatically fed into the staple discharge path for penetration by the staple during each manual activation of the tool. The tool of this latter patent, however, also utilizes a vertical stack of independent caps, and hence possesses the same disadvantages as associated with such a cap arrangement as discussed above. Further, the tool of '389 has the cap supply cylinder positioned forwardly from the impact end of the tool, which is believed to cause overweighting of the head end of the tool and provide an undesirable balance with respect to the feel of the tool when gripped and manually operated. The positioning of the cap storage cylinder adjacent and protruding outwardly from the impact end of the tool also prevents the tool from being utilized in close association to a wall or obstruction which protrudes upwardly from adjacent the area where stapling is desired, and also interferes with overall operator visibility when using the tool.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an improved cap fastener tool, specifically a manually-operated hammer-type cap stapling tool which is manually swung and impacted against a surface so as to cause a stapling operation, which improved cap stapling tool provides improved constructional and operational features which are believed to overcome many of the disadvantages discussed above.
More specifically, this invention relates to an improved manually-operated hammer-type cap fastener tool and preferably a cap stapler tool which, in a preferred embodiment, utilizes a cap supply defined by an elongated row of individual caps which are all serially joined edge-to-edge, with the lead cap as positioned in the fastener (i.e., staple) discharge path being separated from the serial cap strip during the fastener (i.e., staple) discharge operation, thereby providing improved control over the caps both during loading of the tool with caps, and during utilization of the tool.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved hammer-type tool, as aforesaid, wherein the serially joined caps are wound spirally into a roll or coil which can be positioned in a storage magazine mounted on the tool, thereby improving loading and storing of caps on the tool.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an improved hammer-type tool, as aforesaid, wherein the cap storage is mounted on the tool adjacent the grip end thereof whereby the cap storage does not complicate or enlarge the structure at the impact end of the tool, thereby providing improved visibility at the impact end of the tool and providing what is believed to be better feel and balance with respect to gripping and swinging of the tool.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved hammer-type tool, as aforesaid, which has a cutting mechanism, similar to a scissor-type cutting structure, which effectively cuts the web or connecting strip which joins serially adjacent caps, with the cutting mechanism effecting cutting of the web so as to sever the lead cap from the remaining cap strip during the staple ejecting operation, thereby providing an improved staple/cap discharge operation which minimizes potential disturbance to the cap strip remaining in the tool.
A further object of the invention is to provide a cap stapler tool which enables the feeding of individual caps into a discharge position which is aligned with the staple discharge path wholly under the manual control of the tool user, and wholly independent of the actual staple-ejecting impact against a surface, thereby enabling all of the impact force as manually applied to the tool to be utilized for discharging the staple and causing it to penetrate both the cap and the surface, thus minimizing the manually-created impact force required for successful operation of the tool. This also enables the tool to be utilized as a conventional stapler merely by failure of the operator to advance a cap into the staple discharge position, thereby improving overall flexibility of use by permitting the tool to function as either a stapler or as a cap-stapler.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved cap-stapling tool which, by positioning the cap supply at the grip end of the tool, enables the caps to be fed from the cap supply along a guide path which extends lengthwise of the tool to the staple discharge end thereof, which guide path preferably extends through the hand grip of the housing and provides for confinement and protection of the caps being fed lengthwise of the tool while maintaining a tool which is simple and compact so as to maintain a convenient feel and balance, particularly during swinging of the tool during use thereof.
A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved cap stapling tool which, in addition to the capability of manual control over the advancing of the caps into the discharge position, obtains such control utilizing a simple mechanism which is manually activated by a trigger which protrudes from the grip part for convenient engagement with the operator's finger (or thumb), with depression of the trigger not only effecting advancing of a cap into the discharge position, but also preferably causing the trigger to enter into a pocket or recess formed in the tool grip so that the operator's hand comfortably surrounds and embraces the grip to permit convenient swinging of the tool and impacting thereof against a surface while maintaining the trigger in a depressed condition. A manual release of the finger from the trigger during the return movement of the tool away from the surface then resets the trigger so as to permit it to again be manually depressed so as to advance the next cap into the discharge position.
Other objects and purposes of the improved hammer-type cap stapling tool of the present invention will be apparent to persons familiar with stapling tools upon reading the following specification and inspecting the accompanying drawings.